Rift
by TerraRunner
Summary: Welcome to Sherwood Forest. Here, a defenseless traveler gets abducted by an unknown induvidual serving a ruthless society of assassins and murderers. My take on the backstory of Nova and Zeratul, which means its a little abnormal. Rated T for mild scenes of gore and slight language.


**A/N- Hola! All of the characters (Including the Dominion) mentioned are owned by Blizzard, but i kinda changed thier backstories a tad, ok, a lot.**

 **I gave Zeratul a real name and changed his character completely :], so he's kinda a new version of his character from SC.**

 **Also, Stitches is my OC. There are more chapters coming in the future!**

 **P.S, I also changed what the Dominion is, and i know the start is very sudden and in your face, maybe i'll get round to a prequel later.**

"Quiet fool!"

"No! I'm not letting this society take my life!"

"I'm trying to help you idiot!" The incognito man spat at him through his intimidating mask, making the prisoners face contract into one of anger.

"NO! You listen to me now-"

A cloaked silhouette authoritivley waltzed into the forest clearing. "Ty, What the hell is that noise? I can can hear you from headquarters," A female voice spoke, "Ah, an interview!' She commented in mock interest.

"HELP ME, HELP ME!" The captive roared, his voice carrying over to the ears of a guard who's face was constricted within another helmet less menacing than then his hunter's. The dramatic scene caught his attention and he too, walked over to the clearing.

"May I ask you too keep the torturing down." He asserted in a plain, hypnotic voice, earnig a snort from te cloaked girl.

"Thanking you greatly" Taking the snort as a 'yes' the guard hastily returned to his post by an antiquated oak tree and began to sharpen his blade against the tough bark.

The man named Ty returned his gaze to his prisoner who was still struggling against the rope, his white shirt coated in a layer of oozing ruby liquid, which he could only assume was his captives' blood.

"This doesn't have to be torture" Ty started, "If you keep quiet and listen to what I say," turning to the cloaked figure, "and my sister here."

Turning to the cloaked girl, the words seeming to compel themselves out of his mouth, the captive croaked,

"I hope I never meet your goddamn parents."

The man laughed. The girl however, remained silent.

"I like this dude. He's certainly not afraid to speak his mind." He noted to his sister.

The man referred to as Ty, amused by the bewildered expression on the captives face explained:

"We're here to help you, my friend. I had to pretend to abduct you to fool our society, the Dominion, into thinking we would be killing you. I tried to reason with the leader, he said the last resort was an interrogation."

The captive remained silent, as if still shocked by the appalling insult that left his mouth and yet, his predator found it - funny?

"What is your name?" The female asked with a coldness to her voice, wanting to spark conversation.

The prisoner regretted what he was about to tell them.

"Stitches."

Ty gave a side-look to his companion, she shrugged.

"Hello Stitches I'm Zeratul." Said Ty. "This is my sister, November"

"It's Nova" She snapped, kicking Zeratul's armoured shin, which appeared to be ineffective as he gave Nova a smug 'eh' and probably a grin too, but the helmet hid his face.

Stitches interrupted their feud:

"If you're the Dominion, why are you helping me?"

The Dominion were a ruthless society of assassins and killers who's achievements consisted of wiping planets clean of life, leaving no spectators alive.

Nova sighed, showing she was tired of the question, "Because we're what you call 'Betrayers', we're IN the Dominion but we're not."

The confused look on Stitches' beaten face told her she needed to expand her explanation. She continued, "We work with the Dominion but we're planning to overthrow them. I-, we both despise them, especially their leader-"

"Arcturus Mengsk?" Stitches interrupted, absorbing every word that left her mouth. Zeratul and Nova nodded in unison. As their captive struggled against the rope, Nova went to untie him, symbolising the two assassins had trust in him. With the rope no longer squeezing his abdomen, Stitches stretched with relief, and seated himself on a nearby overturned log, consumed by anticipation he waited for more infomation to be trusted with him.

Nova, her whole body and face still cloaked, seated herself opposite him while Zeratul remained standing, intently scanning the scenery for intruders.

Eagerly, Stitches asked Nova, "Hey, didn't Arcturus Mengsk have a child?"

"Yes, he had a daughter." Was her reply, she added, "I've heard it was a girl. She must be what by now, 18?"

Rotating herself to look at Zeratul, he discretely relocated his hand to the hatch used to remove the helmet but quickly returned it to his side.

"Em, yes! He had a daughter." He made a strangled noise behind his helmet,"I checked the records. It's believed he had a son that went missing 5 years before he had his daughter."

"He had two children" Stitches thought aloud."Have you met his children?" He questioned.

Zeratul faced away from Stitches and bowed his head, Nova meanwhile hugged her chest and her voice almost sounded upset when she spoke again. "I've never met them. They both died."

"I'm going to scan the outside perimeter of the clearing" Zeratul perked up, marginally changing the doleful atmosphere," I think there's something waiting in the trees." He informed his sister.

"Be careful" She warned with concern hidden secretly in her bland tone; nodding, he ran into the forest, leaving Nova and Stitches alone.

"How did they die?" The former captive broke the silence.

Why is he so thirsty for infomation? Nova wondered cluelessly.

She decided to talk.

"Mengsk broke the girl." Avoiding eye-contact ( If that was possible, he couldn't exactly see her eyes ) she murmured barely audibly, " He forced her to fight and train and work 24/7, there was no other choice for her. She was lost with him as her family."

Nova was thankful when her brother returned, as the silence that ensued after their conversation made her extremely didn't desire to talk about the girl, it filled her with a deep depression she couldn't rid herself of.

Zeratul collapsed next to Nova and caught his breath for 5 seconds, before giving her the update:

"There was a single lone wolf orbiting our camp, he made my radar go crazy. I guess he was just waiting for the prey-" He shot a covert look at Stitches."to leave its hiding place." Nova hummed in fake interest.

"You've told me what happened to the girl." Stitches began shyly, "but what happened to Mengsk's son?"

Zeratuls head shot up and he retorted,"How the hell do you know what happened to his children?"

Nova, placing a gloved hand on his shoulder pads and said in a husky voice. "I told him. He deserves to know the truth."

She emphasised the word 'truth' for a reason unknown to Stitches. Being talkative, Zeratul apologised,

"Sorry man, I get protective," He admitted to Stitches.

"The boy went missing when he was 5 years of age. No-one apart from the most trusted dominionies knows why."

He looked at Stitches to see how he would react to this new infomation, granting no reaction from him he continued.

"I'm not sure if I can tell you." Stitches knew Zeratul was trying to bait him so he replied, "Atleast if you're going to bait me, make it subtle."

Nova disguised a grunt of amusement as a heavy cough, Zeratul seemed embarrassed as he remained silent for a couple of awkward moments.

"He was taken by The Void."

Stitches couldn't hide the shock displayed on his facial features at the mention of The Void, it was a mythical entity that consumed worlds and devoured souls.

"That's not possible, It's just some stupid story you've heard from a lying street peasant. The Void is a myth."

The atmosphere abruptly chaged. They could all sense the tension that had suddenly erupted between them.

"What did you hear about the girl?" Stitches mocked, "Was she taken by a demon to hell? Or was she tortured by her poor daddy? WHO CARES? We're against the dominion and it's obvious both children had no real family. They were probably hated by everyone, in fact not probably, they were."

Nova's soul was engulfed with pain as Stitches' words pierced through her, feeling like a dagger through the heart.

"Pick your words carefully asshole. Next time, they'll be your last." Her voice changed from emotionless to threatening in an instant. Stitches was starting to rapidly feel like he was in mortal danger, like he was only one breath away from death.

Both assassins rose from their seats.

"Now," Zeratul rubbed his hands together, "We're in a partnership here, we have GOT to work together like a team. Stitches," Stitches agnowledged the mention of his name by raising his exhausted head. Zeratul continued

"I have three questions for you, and you will answer them. Your life is on the line my friend."

Stitches answered:

"Shoot"

"Have you heard of the famous assassin 'November Terra'?"

Stitches gave Nova a questioning look and she shook her cloaked head.

"Same first name, not same person." She grumbled to him, still infuriated by his outburst.

Returning his attention back to Zeratul, Stitches replied, "Yes, she destroyed my hometown on what I can only guess was Mengsk's orders. She's one of the best known assassins I think."

"Question 2: Do you know of the 'VoidMaster'?"

A nod. "He was a boy in a myth who was supposedly abducted by the void, I don't know his name... WAIT! Tyler Terrer, that's the one. The void turned him into its own by injecting void matter into his veins, he turned into the VoidMaster."

"Question 3:Um-"

Nova leaned over to whisper something secretive in her brother's left ear and he seemed to zone out, wanting to escape the situation. Snapping hastily out of his day-dreaming, Zeratul menacingly took an exaggerated step towards Stitches.

"Question 3: Do you want to know who we are and what we look like?" The question hung in the air, and lingered there.

Yes. Stitches' wanted to satisfy a hunger for knowledge deep within him, but he knew that one mistake would have his head as decoration outside the dominion headquarters.

"Do I want to know?" He was going to play it safe.

Nova stepped up next to Zeratul and whispered huskily, "If only-"

"Nova, if we tell him we kill him." Zeratul telepathically messaged her. "Let him make that decision for himself"

"I hope we tell him" Nova mentally commented to him impatiently.

Zeratul smiled under his mask.

"If you want to know, just say so." Zeratul baited slyly.

Don' .Yes.

"Yes. Show me." Stitches pleaded, brawling the doubts that swarmed his head.

Zeratul relocated his gloved hands to the hatch on his mask and gradually pulled it off.

It was anticlimactic.

Stitches thought he would recognise the face of Zeratul, he saw a handsome young man with gravelly blue eyes and short dirty brown hair staring back at him.

"Who are you?" Stitches' was utterly confused.

"I am Zeratul."

"Is that your real name?"

Zeratul hesitated, then shook his head.

"What's your real name?"

"What's yours?" Zeratul retorted.

"Stephan Johnson" Stitches admitted to the mysterious man.

Nova yelped from under her hood and Stiches glowered at her.

"Problem Nova?"

Nova shuffled uncomfortably and replied with guilt weaved into her tone,"I've heard you're name before."

"My name? Where?"

No answer.

Zeratul telepathically communicated with her, "You've heard his name? Where?"

"I heard Peter Johnson screaming the name Stephan Johnson when I stabbed him to death."

"Freaking hell! So you're saying.."

"I destroyed his hometown. I killed his brother on Mengsk's orders."

"Guys?" Stitches interrupted their mental convosation with his questioning voice. He felt intimidated when they both turned to look at him, like their eyes were burning through his head.

"I've, I've met the girl. November Terra."

They carried on staring intently at him.

"When she killed my brother-" He paused to regain his posture and to rid the lump that had navigated to his throat as he mentioned his dead sibling."-I saw her stabbing him to death. She turned around to look at me, then jumped out the window."

Zeratul had to pretend that he didn't know this infomation:

"What does she look like?"

Stitches winced, forcing himself to remember,"She had long blonde hair in a ponytail and, and she was extremely-"

He turned crimson red as he finished his sentence,

"She was really pretty."

Zeratul shot Nova a sideways look before adding,

"Pretty eh? Probably used that to bribe or lure vulnerable men into doing things she wanted. Probably worked for her."

Nova, who was still cloaked, told Stitches, "I'm sorry for your loss Stephan."

Stitches gave her a warm smile to show he appreciated the comment, but then asked her the question she had been dreading:

"So, since Zeratul showed me what he looked like." Stitches recalled,"What do you look like?"

Zeratul gave her a look that said,'it's fine, we're going to kill him afterwards anyway' which didn't make her feel any better. Her hands tightened around the brim of her hood and wasting no time, she pulled it down revealing her face.

Revealing the face that Stitches saw covered in blood when his brother was killed, revealing the murderer of Peter Johnson.

"No." A tear cascaded down Stephan's face.

She looked the same, her long blonde hair framed her unblemished face. Stitches had never seen such stunning emerald eyes look so cold and dispassionate, until they were staring right into him.

"November Terra" He was in a state of pure shock, his heart racing; Stitches was successfully processing the information he had consumed over the last turned to face Zeratul. "Tyler Terra,my God." He faced November,

"You're both Mengsk's children. He turned you into a monster." November's face was an unreadable mask and Stitches returned his gaze to Tyler, "and he threw you, he threw you in the void.."

"Yes" Was the simple answer.

Stephan hung his head as tears started to cascade constantly down his bruised cheeks."Why did you kill my brother. You could've fought it. Fought him."

"It's impossible, and- and you we're right. We were hated terribly by everyone. Mengsk killed our mother so we both had no family. I only just met Zeratul a year ago. He was almost completely dead, I had to drag him out of The Void-"

"Wait, you went into The Void and lived?"

"She is the best assassin in the universe" Zeratul complemented her subtlety. She gave him an unintentionally cold smile and he whispered quietly so only she could hear,"you haven't smiled in a while, have you?"

"Not since my father ruined my goddamn life, you should know that." Scowling at Zeratul, she continued louder than before so that it was barely audible to Stitches:

"Why should you need to be happy. It wastes time and it can influence life-changing decisions by changing the way you feel about the world. It's a dark place. You shouldn't be happy. You should understand that true power is domination and that being 'happy' about small useless things is a waste of energy."

Zeratul looked devastated and quietly asked her,"Is that what Mengsk told you?

November gave her brother a murderous look as she displayed her palm to him, turning it into a fist and smacking it into her hand, she said,"He showed me the truth"

"Point proven Agent X14"

"Don't call me that retard!"

"If it's what Mengsk calls you, I guess it's ok, isn't it?"

If it was possible, November's eyes would've gone colder.

Stitches had been studying his brother's murderer with intent hatred. He hated her. If he had it his way, if he defeated the Dominion, he would slice her open and-

"Fine, Nova," Zeratul admitted defeat to the stubborn assassin operative.

"Stephan," Nova rounded up on Stitches."Because you know who we are-" He knew what was coming, he prepared to sprint into the deep abundance of trees to his right. "-we'll have to kill you."

"You can try" were Stitches' last words before he ran desperately into the forest, leaving no trace apart from the red trail of his thick oozing blood.

"We have to catch him, before he tells everyone he encounters about this." Zeratul said dryly, Nova nodded and thought determinedly that 'you can try' would be his official last words.


End file.
